Dance Like Everyone’s Watching

I’ll just start by saying I’ve been battling a headache since Wednesday and it is getting old. We had 70 degree weather on Wednesday and then it rained all day yesterday with the temperature steadily dropping. Today is cold, grey and gloomy. The rapid weather changes messes with my sinuses which messes with me in general.

This is the type of headache where the pain comes in waves and there are times when the waves are so strong that it also makes me feel a little nauseous.

That’s what I was facing starting my lesson yesterday. I thought seriously about calling the whole thing off but I had agreed to do a demo at the open house and I didn’t want to leave them with a hole. OK, and I kind of wanted to do the demo.

I did talk with JoNY before the lesson just to let her know how I felt about the coaching lesson. She seemed a bit taken aback but it had to be said. I also told her that I didn’t really want to try and work on whatever that coach had suggested. Mostly because I didn’t feel well and I just didn’t need the frustration again. So we stayed with the Waltz to practice for the open house and finished with some Viennese Waltz.

They had a big crowd at the open house which was nice to see. A couple of the newer students had brought lots of friends so the place was packed. They started with a group class dividing the mass of people into two groups. One was for those who were totally new to the studio and anyone who had taken even one lesson was in OwnerGuy’s group.

He decided to do Hustle. Not sure why but there seems to be a big push to get more people to do Hustle. Could be related to the fact that there is a new Silver Hustle syllabus so he may just be trying to drum up business. The step he taught was a traveling sweetheart. Bring the lady into sweetheart, take her from your left to your right, then we both walk a couple of step and end up facing 180 degrees from where we were. One more change of sides for the lady and we travel again and end up right back where we started.

The second lady I was dancing with thought she knew the step so she was trying to lead herself. Since I wanted her to get the step right, I kind of had to muscle her a bit through the turn and get her to my right side. Which meant she had been doing both parts incorrectly which she acknowledged. But we got it all fixed up.

After some general dances, they did the student demos. Z kind of warned the crowd that she had randomly selected people at the different levels to make sure that they had them all covered. That lead to some shocked faces as people realized they were being asked to demo in front of a large crowd. Everyone played along though. I give some of the newbies real credit since it takes a lot to dance in front of a large crowd when you’ve only taken a few lessons. But we were a very supportive audience.

As they walked through the levels, Z and OwnerGuy were making little comments about what you might learn as you progress through the dance tree. They equated Bronze to High School and that made Silver College. We only have one couple in Gold and they weren’t there that night so I’m not sure what they would have used for that.

We don’t have any Silver IV students so I was the last one up as JoNY and I did our Waltz. After we were done, they did some instructor demos. New Guy and New Girl did a Samba because he loves Samba. OwnerGuy and JoNY did some new Silver Hustle and then Z and OwnerGuy did some Gold Waltz.

They mixed some open dances in between the various parts of the Open House and we had many more ladies than men so I tried to spread myself around. I’m not the best at this but, fortunately, there were others who were better. The last thing I think they wanted at an Open House would be for people to not be able to dance. It is always funny to dance with a newcomer and they ask how long I’ve been doing this. There is that moment of amazement when they hear that it is 10+ years.

Anyway, it was a good time. I usually enjoy these Open Houses. I kind of like seeing the people come in for the first time and get introduced to the world of dance.